Train Your Brain to Stop Pain

We often think of pain as a purely physical experience. If we get injured training for a marathon, we look to doctors to help us heal in the form of surgery, physical therapy, and more. When we have a headache, we take an NSAID or other pain reliever and lie down until it passes.

If you’re dealing with an injury or having another nagging pain-related medical issue, it’s always important to talk to your physician to get to the bottom of the pain and help you come up with a treatment plan. But what if your doctor has pronounced the injury healed and you still have pain? What if you’re dealing with regular chronic pain in your body, but doctors can’t find any medical explanation for it? That’s where the brain may come in, according to Christie Uipi, LCSW, an LA-based psychotherapist who specializes in the treatment of chronic pain, anxiety, and depression.

To be clear, medical gaslighting—especially of women—is absolutely a problem in our culture. Just because a doctor can’t find an explanation for your pain doesn’t mean it isn’t real. If you’re continuously experiencing pain without an explanation, it’s worthwhile to seek several opinions to do your best to find an answer.

But sometimes, your brain does play tricks on you. Whether you’re dealing with nagging pain from an injury or another form of chronic pain, here’s what Uipi wants you to know about the role your brain plays in pain.